Avanti West Coast Settle and Carlisle line diversions | 3/1/26 | 4K

The closure of the West Coast Mainline and M6 in the New Year of 2026 to facilitate the replacement of a railway over bridge resulted in the introduction of a temporary service running Wigan North Western and later Preston to Carlisle to keep passengers on the move. These were operated by Avanti West Coast's Class 805s and provided the first sight of Long-distance High Speed rolling stock in commercial passenger service on the Settle and Carlisle line since Virgin ran Voyagers and locomotive-dragged Pendolinos at the time the West Coast Mainline was modernised in the early 2000s.

The practice of running diversionary services along the Settle and Carlisle line in the event of engineering works on the West Coast Mainline has fallen out of use given the extended travel times, ease of running replacement coaches along the quiet stretch of M6 north of Preston and requirement to source diesel traction and route conductors to operate these services.

However, with the closure of the M6 and imposition of severe traffic restrictions on adjacent roads and availability of bi-mode Class 805s given the engineering works on their normal routes, it was decided that for once, providing diversionary services was deemed to be the most practical way of keeping passengers on the move.

In this video, these services, as well as the normal Northern services are seen at the historic stations of Hellifield and Settle.